Why refrain?
Originally posted by duffistuta
Comment Goddammit - that's why we pay you so much to moderate.
What?! You expect me to work? Well, since you asked nice.
The bracketed material is a statement from JB to Force of Nature and posted by David Morgan yesterday. (Btw, FoN has some excellent pball videos.)
[Jerry Braun: Take it back to the beginning. In 1992, eighteen teams formed the NPPL as a cooperative corporation under the laws of the State of New York. Four such teams are still in existence, including the All Americans, Aftershock, Bad Company and the Ironmen. The charter in New York was revoked for non-payment of taxes in the late 90's, but the NPPL continued under the Rules Committee. If anyone can lay claim to the NPPL name and mantle, it is the shareholder members still in existence. Chuck Hendsch was Tom Cole's Vice President and succeeded to the Presidency when Tom stepped down. However, no elections were called to fill that or other offices. A steering committee was elected in May, 2001 at the Gettysburg tournament, but Chuck has not held elections since, and no election for President has been held in years. Rather, Chuck formed his own corporation in California, became the sole shareholder and claimed the NPPL as his own domain.
The tournament promoters, both before and after the inception of the PSP, had always adhered to the last legitimate vestage of the NPPL, the Rules Committee, even when their rulings have been adverse to a promoter. We believe that it is in the best interest of tournament paintball that legitimate voices of the players be heard. That is why, in Los Angeles, there will be elections, NPPL elections, for a Rules Committee and a Steering Committee, elected by the players, to represent the players' and teams' interests.
We have tried to meet the aspirations and concerns of the players. When air lines were a problem, we had constructed and purchased a state-of-the-art air system. Through Rosie, we designed and erected a new netting system that is the safest instituted to date. If we consider the tournament scene of just three years ago and compare it to that of today, we can begin to measure how far we have come. Challenges still exist, and we will do all we can to meet them. We optimize our chances of success if both the players and promoters are engaged in a continuous and constructive dialogue. As the players' concerns are articulated, working together, it will become easier to find solutions to today's problems. Thus, it is our desire to see such representation of the players in the Rules and Steering Committees.
It is easy to criticize and point to less than perfect results, ignoring the progress made by dwelling on the steps yet to be taken. It is easy to foster in the mind perfect tournaments and series. Talk is, indeed, cheap. The difficulty lies in translating that talk and those dreams into reality. We intend to continue to do more than just talk. We believe that tournaments have come a long way in the past several years, but we do not intend to rest on our laurels. They can be made better, and it is incumbant upon all of us, players and promoters, to act constructively and together, to make them the best that they can be.]
On it's face a not unreasonable statement and I won't comment on the NPPL vs. NPPL aspects as all that nonsense will have to be untangled in court if the parties so choose. However, regarding the rest of the statement it reminds me of the old Soviet Constitution--full of the verbage of democracy but somewhat deficient in practice.
If you've managed to wade through the whole thing the last thing you probably want is an equally long refutation so I ain't gonna do it. Besides, some of the stuff is, most of the stuff is generally accurate--it's just how it is presented that puts a bright sugar coating on the whole thing.
One might say, How many years do you get to get it right before the players rightfully lose patience?
How cooperative is the process when change only occurs as the result of widespread unrest and outrage?
If you want another view of results--because as Jerry himself remarked, "Talk is cheap," then take a look at his magazine. Note--I didn't say buy, I said look. The only professional element to the whole product are the ads. It looks second rate and thrown together and the current state of that mag is a HUGE improvement over what it looked like a year or two ago. And why? Because it sold enough copies anyway to satisfy it's ownership and it has only made small efforts to improve because there is significant well-produced, shiny, glossy alternatives in the marketplace. No competition, no improvement.
Bottom line is the PSP has been run like the mag. As long as it sells that's been good enough.
. I took in account that the majority of the regular posters in here are European, so the outcome would be at least somewhat biased. But that doesn't mean that it isn't worthwhile knowing, does it?
